The Road Show exists primarily to entertain. However, the appraisers are on
the show for quite a different reason. My understanding is they are not
paid (they may be reimbursed for travel expenses, I am not sure). They are
there to promote themselves (I guess many times that is a form of
entertainment!), promote their company, and also to obtain consignments.
Sometimes there seem to be conflicts of interest or, at least, apparent
conflicts of interest with the appraisers (surprise?). Example: A while
back either David Rago or his wife Susanne Perrault (sp?) were on the show
appraising a piece of George Ohr pottery. What they failed to disclose
during their appraisal was the fact they were in the process of negotiating
or had just recently purchased the largest single collection of George Ohr
pottery in the world. I thought that their overly effusive praise and
rather high value ascribed to the piece of rather unremarkable Ohr pottery
on the show was a bit problematic. I suspect that this kind of thing
happens on the show more often than one would suspect. Occasionally, you
hear the appraiser make such comments, "I recently sold one like this in my
shop", or ":If I had this item in my shop . . .") In my opinion, it
undermines all of the appraisals, when you have flagrant self-serving on the
show.
